The packaging of beverages is replete with novel approaches to providing simplified means for opening the packages, particularly in light of the demands of consumers as well as the demands of high speed production equipment.
Wine and related types of beverages are most often packaged in glass bottles and depending on the kind or quality of the wine, the bottles are sealed with a cork. Some wines are bottle packaged with "screw tops" and movement in this direction is obviously predicated to some extent on meeting consumer's demands for packaging which is easily opened without the necessity of additional equipment.
However, "corking" is still and will continue to play, a large part in wine packaging. Some wines, e.g. Champagnes, are corked with stoppers having enlarged heads and which can be grasped and twisted. However the majority of red, white and rose wines are "corked" with stoppers made out of cork which is recessed in the neck of the bottle requiring some implement such as a corkscrew to extract the cork.
There is a universal stigma related to the use of natural corks in table wine products predicated in large part on the need to use a corkscrew or other device for removal of the cork. Typically, women generally avoid the physical/mechanical requirement for removing corks from table wine products and have demonstrated a reluctance to purchase wine products due to the awkwardness of cork removal. Many consumers avoid purchasing "corked" bottles of wine due to the need to uncork the wine, there being some apprehension of breaking up the cork, failing to remove it properly and/or allowing cork particles to drop into the wine.
In "corking" wine, the cork is usually sized to a predetermined size for the particular bottle and after filling the bottle with wine, the cork is peripherally compressed and pushed into the neck of the bottle. Modern high speed bottling and corking equipment necessitates that the cork be presized and readily acceptable to established corking equipment.
Any modificiation to a cork stopper therefore must keep in mind the continued necessity of use of the same high speed corking equipment.
Applicant's invention is directed to providing a cork stopper having associated therewith a device for quick and easy removal of the cork without the necessity of a corkscrew or other like device and yet one that continues to meet the necessary type of established modern day "corking" equipment.
There have been attempts in the past to provide a cork stopper with a self-contained pulling device and the Spelling U.S. Pat. No. 1,204,712 is representative of such early prior art devices.
Spelling discloses a stopper made of cork or other yieldable substance having a well formed in the stopper into which well is forced two rounded members resembling a cone when placed together. The two half members have shoulders or shelves to indent the adjacent sides of the well upon the application of a spreading force between them. Pull means are provided for extracting the stopper. The well has a bottom and the two half members have rounded or tapered upper and lower peripheral edges to diminish strain at points where the cork would otherwise be liable to split and to intensify it at the points where pressure is needed. This arrangement leaves small irregularly bounded areas of the interior wall of the well "naked" after the rounded half members have been inserted. The stem of the puller is introduced through the restricted jaw opening causing the rounded half members to be temporarily spread apart. The "elasticity" of the substance of the stopper allows an adequate recession of the wall of the well "for this purpose". With the enlarged and wedge-shaped end of the stem having been pressed or forced into an interior space, the elastic exterior of the stopper rebounds and impacts on all parts of the stem and wedge but not so firmly as to prevent its movement up and down throughout the length of the interior space. However, the downward movement of the stem and its continuing pressure upon the other members causes the sharp edges of the shoulders to indent the substance of the stopper and all the interior members of the device to be firmly and tightly wedged. There are coacting means between the half members and in particular coacting parts which form a floor upon which the wedged-shaped end of the stem rests from the time of its insertion until the time when the stopper is to be extracted or removed.
The cap of the Spelling device comprises wings formed of yieldable metal or the like and is suitably secured to the top of the stem. The extremities of the wings will, upon contact with the uppermost rim of the container, spring outwardly upon the application of downward pressure and rebound to normal position when the extremities reach the under shelf of the rim. In extracting the stopper, the wings are doubled back upon each other and the fingers or a suitable tool inserted beneath them.
The Spelling device however is not designed for high speed bottling/corking equipment. In assembling the Spelling stopper, the rounded half members are co-engaged including the bottom floor means and the half members forced into the cork well, causing the walls of the cork to be put under outward stress and pressure. The stem and wedge shaped end are then forced through the jaw and trenches (restriction) thereby causing further expansion of the cork walls at least adjacent the top portion of the walls. The stress in the cork walls in assembling the stopper is significant, particularly when it is remembered that cork does not have the elasticity of rubber and will readily split when under tensile form of stress.
Further, there is no discussion in Spelling as to how the stopper is assembled with the bottle neck. The wings of the cap are of yieldable metal and pressure on the top of the stopper must be applied with care or else the stem will be pushed downwardly with the wedge shaped end forced against the co-engaging means forming the floor of the insert at the bottom of the well. Again, this type of tensile type force can stress the bottom of the cork well and cause a split in the cork material.
Even though the cork is under pressure within the neck of a bottle, wine bottles are usually stored on their sides or upside down. Wine penetrates a cork to some extent and a cork which has splits or weaknesses in it will allow the wine to leak further. In the case of Spelling, leakage of wine through the bottom of the cork and possibly through the floor of the insert would put the wine in contact with foreign material including perhaps metal which would be deleterious to the wine and prohibit the wine from being sold commercially and at retail.
Indeed although Spelling appears to refer to his stopper being of cork, the structure of his device and the manner of employment creates tensile stresses and requires elasticity of the material that is almost the antithesis of a cork stopper. The Spelling device is really only applicable in limited, carefully hand assembled cork stoppers or more tensile elastic type of stoppers of rubber-like material. Spelling even suggests that his invention is designed so the stopper is reusable, another aspect which anyone familiar with wine bottle cork stoppers will appreciate is not intended in the wine industry. The Spelling stopper device is not constructed for high compression and disposal, it is intrusion dependent and requires securement via stopper elasticity. If it is cork, this is extremely variable in the cork world.
Accordingly, notwithstanding the previous attempts to provide a stopper for bottles of wine and the like including means associated with the stopper for its removal, there is still a need for a wine cork stopper capable of preassembly with the cork without significant stress being imparted to the cork and which is acceptable to modern high speed production corking machines.
Further there is need for a cork stopper that may be removed with relative ease without the need of auxilliary equipment and one that does not or is likely not to cause discomfort or injury to the user.